Chapter Thirteen –

The rays of the sunlight glistened onto Lucy's face, projecting the heat through the glass and onto her body. The uncomfortable temperature pulled her out of her deep coma-like sleep, and familiarised herself with her surroundings, feeling Lysander's sweaty palm on her's that still lay on his chest.

Gently wriggling free from his tender clasp, Lucy made her way to the en-suite and washed, she checked the watch on the wall as she did so – 6:05am, she had grown used to early mornings since her and Ron had begun camping.

As she towel dried her hair over the sink and pulled on a robe from the back of the door, Lysander stirred from the creaking of the door. His glistening piercing blue eyes filled the room, as his sleep-ridden mouth crept into a lopsided smile.

"Hey," his voice croaked as he lifted his head.

"Hey," Lucy smiled back, pulling the wet strands of hair out of her eyes.

Lysander lay his head back down onto the bed, "Big day," he smiled.

"Yeah," Lucy agreed, her words no more than a breathe, taking in the exact feeling, the exact moment and the exact way it made her feel.

Downstairs, Charlie was munching on some bread and jam and soon Lucy joined him, her now dry yet slightly ruffled hair tied back tightly into her trademark mid-pony tail.

"Did you sleep okay?" Charlie asked, without the conventional "good morning" greeting, then again Charlie was anything but conventional, even in his role as an Uncle.

"Yes thank you," Lucy nodded, still feeling a little weary, "Did you?"

Charlie just looked at her and raised his eyebrows with a glint in his eye, coloured with a smirk.

"I see," Lucy grinned, picking up a crusty bread roll and cutting it in half.

"Don't tell Lysander," Charlie giggled handing her a jar of strawberry jam.

"Tell me what?" Lysander asked, entering the room, running a towel through his hair and dumping it in the wash bin.

"We're all out of bread rolls," Charlie told him. Lucy could have sworn there was a basket there a few seconds ago, "But it's alright," Charlie clicked his fingers and the basket reappeared.

"Cheers Charlie," Lysander smiled, sitting down next to Lucy and tucking in. Charlie winked at Lucy sneakily.

Soon after, Luna came to join the group for breakfast who was greeted by a kiss on the hand from Charlie, and minutes later Ron, who had only just rolled out of bed.

Once the group were washed at dressed it was still within the hour and they set off on Harry and Roberta, Charlie joining Ron and Lucy on Roberta, with Lucy sandwiched between her two Uncles.

The ride was rough and heavy and Lucy had no intention of sleeping this time, she didn't know how she managed it before. The flight didn't take long and soon they were soaring towards what Lucy could make out looked like a farm. Roberta touched down on the landing pad next to the Sanctuary, and they made their way, Hippogriffs in hand towards the attendant.

"How many?" he asked, with a twinge to his accent.

"Just two please, for a week," Charlie smiled, with no hint of familiarity in his voice whatsoever.

"Alright sir," The attendant gave him two tickets and tore the stubs off them, "Just through that door sir, someone will be waiting for you," he winked subtly.

Lucy looked over to the main building which looked like a small bungalow; suddenly she saw some movement around the blinds and tugged on Ron's sleeve to alert him. Ron nudged Charlie and he began to navigate the group over to the main building.

"Someone or something is in there already," Lucy muttered under her breath.

"I think we're found our criminals, looks like they were more on time than we thought," Charlie replied, picking up his pace over the uneven terrain.

Charlie slowed as he approached the door and resumed his persona as he met with another attendant.

"Thank you sir," The attendant smiled, taking the rest of the ticket, "If you just wait in the waiting room, someone will be along to negotiate payments,"

Charlie nodded and thanked the attendant, before leading the group through the double swing doors and into the waiting room, where there was a group of seven adults waiting, some standing, some sitting, some deep in conversation with each other in a language Lucy didn't understand – but she had her gut feeling that these were just a few of Mae-Jack's associates travelling to the UK.

Charlie looked around and Lucy wasn't sure whether to pull her wand or not. Suddenly, Charlie's sceptical face burst into a gleaming smile.

"Hello," he waved, resembling Grandad Arthur, "We're on holiday,"

The group looked confused until one of the few females got up from her chair.

"They do not speak English," she replied in a thick accent, "I am only one who speak English,"

"Hello, I'm Clifford, are you here long?" Charlie stuck his hand out and shook it.

"I am Lyley," She narrowed her eyes at Charlie's friendly nature but still managed to shake his hand back, "We do not speak with general public, we do not want conversation,"

"Only being friendly, thought you might be from around here? We're on holiday and we're not quite sure what we're doing yet," Charlie smiled, "This is my wife, Laura," he signalled to Luna, "My son, Lucas," he patted Lysander on the shoulder, "My brother, Rowan," he ruffled Ron's head, "and his daughter Louise," He smiled towards Lucy, "Is this your husband?" he asked, pointing to a man who uncannily matched the picture Lucy had seen in Ron's office.

"He is my travelling associate, we travel on business," She explained, easing into Charlie's trap but still being hostile, "We do not want conversation, good bye,"

"We're from the UK; if you're travelling there maybe we could be of assistance?" Charlie raised his voice as Lyley walked away; she stopped in her tracks and turned around to face them. Murdoch said something in their native language and Lucy presumed that Lyley had been asked to translate as they were deep in conversation for a few minutes. The pair looked sceptical, exchanging glances from their group to Charlie.

"Clifford, we do not accept your alliance, but we are travelling to the UK, now please leave us alone," Lyley pleaded with stern eyes, which Lucy reckoned had been enforced by Murdoch.

"I'm afraid I can't let you do that," Charlie told them, pulling out a piece of paper from one pocket and his wand from the other, signalling everyone else to do the same, "The Ministry of Magic has issued a warrant for your arrest –,"

Sparks began to fly from every angle as Ron pulled Lucy through the door and under the desk in the waiting room, just as he had done in the Ministry of Magic all those days ago.

"I've changed my mind, I can't let you do this –," Ron cried, with tears in his eyes, "When Charlie called you my daughter I realised then that this is too dangerous for you, you cannot be here, you need to hide, I love to you too much to let anything happen to you,"

Lucy couldn't really hear what Ron was saying as her hearing and sight had been stunned by shock at how quickly the situation had escalated.

Lucy stood up with Ron still under the desk and fired shots into the cloud of smoke that filled the waiting room.

"Expelliramus!"

"Stupefy!"

"Avada Kedavra!"

The room filled with green light that made Lucy scrunch her eyes in pain and gave her a sharp stabbing throb at the back of her head.

As she regained her sight she began shooting a few more spells from behind the desk, allowing Charlie and Ron to use their licence to kill whenever they should need it, although Lucy knew that both of her Uncle's didn't like to use it.

Suddenly, a metaphorical light bulb appeared above her head.

"SECTUMSEMPERA!" She screamed, jumping over the desk and pointing her wand in the direction of Murdoch and Lyley, who had been backed into a corner by Charlie and Luna.

Lucy could feel the fear and rage projecting from her eyes as she cast the spell down on the two criminals now cowering in the corner. The blast from the spell knocked Lucy to the floor and she scurried away behind the desk again.

As she peered over the desk, where Lysander, Luna and Charlie had also hidden, Lucy could see Murdoch clutching his chest which was pouring with blood. Into the air, Murdoch held a small metal ball which he pulled a ring out of – shouting something in his native language.

"RUN!" Charlie shouted, as he pulled everyone up and ran towards the backdoor and out onto the uneven fields once more.

Lucy's legs felt as though they were going to break as they jolted on the rocks and uneven terrain and as she caught her foot, she tripped and fell to the floor.

"RUN FASTER IT'S GOING TO BLOW!" Charlie bellowed but it was too late.

Lucy looked up, unable to loosen her footing. The group turned to see her in trouble but were too stunned, shocked and staggered to take action.

Lysander was the first person she locked eyes with, so she was surprised when her Uncle's name left her lips.

"RON!" She cried, a painful, sorrowful cry of true dismay as the bomb exploded behind her, blowing up the Sanctuary and engulfing Lucy in rolls of smoke and fire.

And Lucy's world slowly faded to black.